Red weed
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The red weed (also referred to as the red creeper) is a fictional plant native to Mars in the novel The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. It is this plant that supposedly gives Mars its dull red colour. It is brought to Earth possibly accidentally by the invading Martians. When it is exposed to water, it grows and reproduces explosively, flooding the neighbouring countryside as it clogs streams and rivers. The narrator mentions near the end of "The Man on Putney Hill" that the weed glows purple at night.
Though it engulfed the native plant life of Earth it succumbed to the effects of Earth bacteria.
As the book has been interpreted as criticism of British Imperialism, the red weed can be seen as a metaphor for territorial expansion (the British Empire being traditionally coloured pink or red on maps). In a real-life parallel, the British and other European colonisers introduced various non-native fauna to the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and other countries. In some cases, these introduced species overwhelmed the native fauna, especially in remote islands.
[edit] In other adaptations
The red weed is not mentioned at all in the radio adaptation, and is absent from the 1953 film; however its absence fits in with the retcon established for the TV series follow-up in which the aliens originate from Mor-Tax, a garden planet. Therefore, their means of transforming the planet was actually to conserve and promote Earth's own vegetation.
In Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds the presence of the red weed on Earth is clearly intentional. Once they have a strong hold of the planet, the invaders take captured humans and then drain their blood, which somehow acts as a fertiliser for the red weed, helping it grow and cover the planet. Though it is never stated that these invaders come from Mars (the "Red Planet"), the script indicates that the weed is abundantly present on their world as well, suggesting the two share a superficial resemblance. However, what exactly makes up their red weed, whether it is a natural vegetation or what gives it its colour on their world, is unknown. It is also stated in the script that the weed is fierce enough to flourish in spite of the conditions that forced the aliens to find refuge on a new world. But despite its tenacity to survive such a harsh environment, much like in the novel, the red weed is killed by Earth's bacteria and turned into an ash-like dust and is blown away in the wind before it can be examined.
The red weed is also depicted in the film H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, which is a direct adaptation of the novel. However, it is not featured in any detail, and its presence is nothing more than as a part of the background.
It is also present in the PC game of the War of the Worlds, where it replaces the trees if more Martian buildings and defences are built in that sector.
In the second volume of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which deals with the effects of the Martian invasion within a wider fictional context, the red weed is deliberately employed by the Martians as an anti-shipping weapon, in order to prevent Captain Nemo's submarine, the Nautilus, from providing effective resistance to the Martian invasion.
In the comic sequel to the story, Scarlet Traces, the red weed has been farmed because its oil is the only thing that can lubricate the adapted Martian technology. As one character points out, this suggests that the Martians brought it to Earth on purpose.
